[cachet]

Hi all, I'm hoping some of you can help me.

We switched late to our midwives (27 weeks) and got our paperwork for insurance filled out right away so we could get the ball rolling there. I know our ins co will pay 80%, same as hospital, and our midwives have used them before with success and were pleased that's who we had. So I'm not worried that insurance *won't* pay.

But last night at my prenatal when I asked about ins. my m/w had bad news- the biller that they use can't be reached and ins hasn't been billed.

Apparently he has some medical problems and must be having a medical crisis or something. They've called, left msgs, emailed, nothing.

We knew up front that our midwives would like 1/2 of the birth paid by 36 weeks and I thought, no problem, we'll pay what we can now and hear from insurance by then. I will be 36 weeks next week and as reasonable as our midwives are it will be seriously hard to be able to have half paid by then. We've been hit with bill after bill for car repairs, house things, other medical bills, and I just feel like we can't catch a break.

I know they're willing to work with us, but I SO want them to be paid! I know it's not *their* fault, and it's not *our* fault, but I'm so stressed over this.

So I guess this is more of a vent and not a question...I wish *I* could bill insurance myself or something. And if we were able to just pay out of pocket, when insurance got billed and they paid would we then just be reimbursed?

*sigh* Thanks for reading

 

[pamamidwife]

You can bill the insurance company directly.

THOUGH....

I don't bill insurance until after the birth. I do a global billing then, which is a package for prenatals, birth and postpartums.

I wonder why your mw doesn't do this?

 

[mtnsunshinemama]

Our midwives don't bill either until about 6 weeks after the birth... But I am familiar with insurance billing as well and yes, you can bill your insurance directly or your midwives can find someone else or do it themselves if they are in a hurry to get paid (still usually takes weeks to get reimbursed) you can fax and follow -up to hurry things along...
Try not to panic about this, you've got plenty else on your plate right now...

 

[cachet]

Hmm- thanks for your replies!

pamamidwife- well, I wondered how that usually worked. So do you have your clients pay up front and when ins. pays postpartum, you reimburse your clients? Maybe that's what my m/w expects, I just didn't realize it b/c I'm used to getting a bill from drs. after ins. has been processed through. ugh- it's all so bureaucratic and confusing to me...

mtsunshinemama- she mentioned maybe billing herself, though I guess that would be fairly time consuming and understandably they would want to avoid that if possible. It's good to know that I can bill them myself, too.

Thank you both!

 

[pamamidwife]

no, actually what I do is have my biller call first and find out what the ins will cover. then I just have my clients pay whatever percentage their ins won't pay by the 36th week. I bill insurance after the birth and that's that.

Definitely talk to your mw about it. It's better to be honest about where you're at financially than to count on money from a client and not get it.